Gainax: Collected works (Part 3)
So, Kare Kano went *much* faster than Nadia did. Part of this was that the early series is much more enticing to me, mostly due to the nostalgia factor of having watched it with my first girlfriend nearly eight years ago.
Kare Kano really feels like Gainax making a series where they insisted there would be no robots, bouncing breasts or egregious swimsuit episodes. And, for the first 20 or so episodes, it delivers. The episode where Hideaki Anno is asked to step down as director is highly visible, and I will admit my enjoyment of the last 5 episodes of the series was hampered by both a very weak fansub and my own limited understanding of japanese, though the amount of recap of previous episodes that starts happening in the late series gets truly frustrating (nearly half of episode 25), and the final episode is done in such an unusual and incomprehensible pseudo-manga style (most of the dialogue is written, not spoken) that I couldn't really appreciate it.
Also, the series feels a little schizophrenic at times, jumping between plot lines, trying to cover as much as possible. This is inevitable with a series adapted from a manga that wasn't even finished at the time of the series' creation, so a cohesive story is not achieved, but the time we have with the characters is fun, thoughful and insightful into the human condition.
Overall, of the series I have watched thus far, I think Kare Kano is the weakest, followed shortly by Nadia, with an ocean of difference between Gunbuster/Diebuster, FLCL, Evangelion and Gurren Lagann.
It seems the torrent for Petite Princess Yucie has stalled around 60% with no seeds, so I may have to go hunting for alternate sources or series soon. Or rewatch Gunbuster and Diebuster and write one of these up for them.
Kare Kano really feels like Gainax making a series where they insisted there would be no robots, bouncing breasts or egregious swimsuit episodes. And, for the first 20 or so episodes, it delivers. The episode where Hideaki Anno is asked to step down as director is highly visible, and I will admit my enjoyment of the last 5 episodes of the series was hampered by both a very weak fansub and my own limited understanding of japanese, though the amount of recap of previous episodes that starts happening in the late series gets truly frustrating (nearly half of episode 25), and the final episode is done in such an unusual and incomprehensible pseudo-manga style (most of the dialogue is written, not spoken) that I couldn't really appreciate it.
Also, the series feels a little schizophrenic at times, jumping between plot lines, trying to cover as much as possible. This is inevitable with a series adapted from a manga that wasn't even finished at the time of the series' creation, so a cohesive story is not achieved, but the time we have with the characters is fun, thoughful and insightful into the human condition.
Overall, of the series I have watched thus far, I think Kare Kano is the weakest, followed shortly by Nadia, with an ocean of difference between Gunbuster/Diebuster, FLCL, Evangelion and Gurren Lagann.
It seems the torrent for Petite Princess Yucie has stalled around 60% with no seeds, so I may have to go hunting for alternate sources or series soon. Or rewatch Gunbuster and Diebuster and write one of these up for them.